Theological and Religious Approaches to Soil Stewardship - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 289

home in the mountains. In fact, in the myth, the emperor of Japan is Niniginomikoto,
god of the rice fields and grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu; today, the emperor
still symbolically transplants rice by hand in the spring in the imperial grounds, and
Shinto shrines dot the mountaintops throughout Japan.
According to the myth, Japan is the land of abundant rice ( mizuho no kuni ). The
yama no kami , or goddess of the mountain, is identified also as Konohanasakuyajime,
granddaughter of Izanami and Izanagi, the divine couple said to have created Japan
and the Japanese from tenchikaibyaku , the “pillar of heaven.” As such, she represents
the more mysterious and serene “nature” of the mountains, in contrast to ta no kami,
“the god of the rice paddies” in the plains, where cultivation occurs (Moore 2009b).
Nihon Shoki's portrayal of Japan is as the mizuho no kuni ( 瑞穂の国 ), the “land of
abundant rice.” Perhaps this is why farmers in the plains of Japan traditionally had
such a close relationship with the mountains. Soil is transported from the mountains
to enrich the fertility of the rice paddies and is known as “guest soil” ( kyakudo )
(Moore 1990), and a fertile soil and plentiful rice harvests are symbolized during
the wedding ceremony of the farm heir (Moore 1990; Figure 12.1 ). Soil in Japan
can also be termed as having a living quality—“fat” ( tsuchi ga futoru ), meaning too
much organic matter, or “thin” ( tsuchi ga yaseru ). Here again, religious principles
give shape to an active set of relations, and some of the management implications of
such principles will be described below.
12.2.3 H umans and s oil in W orld r eligious t exts
References to the soil occur in many of the sacred texts and basic teachings of the
world's religions ( Table 12.1 ; Lal 2010). As with biblical texts, since these writings
are primarily about the nonmaterial values of various human cultures, sacred scrip-
tures generally do not provide direct instructions on soil management. Instead they
use the soil as a metaphor or familiar material example for some lesson deemed to
have spiritual significance or some recommended practice thought to build human
virtue (Fick 2008). However, using the concept of soil in this way bestows a reli-
gious reverence for soil that is almost universal across the religions of the human
race. Though religious reverence does not always translate into daily stewardship,
for persons who claim to value the virtues of religion, education about their religion
should help them become better stewards of the soil.
12.3 CONNECTING BEST SOIL MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES WITH RELIGIOUS SOIL THEMES
The principles of soil stewardship, or good soil management, are commonly enumer-
ated in modern soil textbooks (Brady and Weil 2008; Gardiner and Miller 2008;
Hatfield and Sauer 2011). Those principles can be regarded as the foundations for prac-
tices that maintain or improve soil quality or soil health. Because the ancient authors
of religious scriptures recognized and described attributes of agricultural soils, they
can often be related to modern approaches to soil management that foster good soil
quality. As an example, Table 12.2 places six principles of good soil management
beside biblical passages related to those practices. It is clear that the Bible is not a text